Barn sover om natten.

the child

Breakdown of Barn sover om natten.

• sove: to sleep
• natt: the night

Questions & Answers about Barn sover om natten.

Why is barn spelled the same for both singular and plural in Norwegian?

In Norwegian, certain neuter nouns like barn (meaning child or children) look the same whether you are talking about one child or several. Context usually tells you which one it is. If you need to be absolutely clear, you can use et barn (a child) or flere barn (several children).

Why doesn’t the sentence use a definite article, like barnet?

In the original sentence Barn sover om natten, we’re making a general statement about children in general. When making general statements in Norwegian, we often leave out the article. If you say Barnet sover om natten, it would mean The child sleeps at night.

What does om natten mean?

Om natten literally translates to during the night. Om can mean about or in/during depending on context. Here, it expresses that sleeping takes place at night on a regular basis.

Why is there no word for “the” in om natten if it literally means “at the night”?

Norwegian uses the definite form natten (the night) after om to indicate a habitual action that happens every night. This construction is a set phrase in Norwegian: om natten means at night in a general sense.

How do I pronounce barn and natten?

• barn: The r can be somewhat rolled or tapped, but it varies by dialect. The vowel sounds a bit like the a in father.
• natten: The first syllable sounds similar to nut, and the tt is often pronounced with a single t sound in many dialects, but some might pronounce it more distinctly. The en at the end is a short sound, like en in taken.

What does sover mean and how is it conjugated?

Sover is the present tense of the verb å sove (to sleep). Norwegian verbs usually have a simpler conjugation pattern than English. For example:
• (Jeg) sover – I sleep
• (Du) sover – You sleep
• (Han/hun/den/det) sover – He/she/it sleeps
• (Vi) sover – We sleep
• (Dere) sover – You (plural) sleep
• (De) sover – They sleep